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NFL Week 7: Power Rankings and Picks

Our Model Shows How All 32 Teams Stack Up and Where It Disagrees with the Week’s Spreads

By

Michael Salfino

Updated Oct. 17, 2014 5:38 p.m. ET

Each week, Cade Massey, from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, and Rufus Peabody, a Las Vegas sports analyst, rank all 32 NFL teams based off a mathematical model that takes only on-field performance into account. In other words, the model is purely objective and ignores outside factors like personnel, coaching and motivation.

The professor and the gambling-sharp look at only four statistics to evaluate offenses and defenses—rushing, passing, scoring and how effectively the ball is advanced relative to down...